EL TORO : Navy Officer Faces Sex Abuse Charges
A Navy officer stationed at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station will be tried on sexual harassment charges in a general court-martial, a Marine Corps spokesman said Friday.
Cmdr. Steven C. Tolan was transferred from El Toro to Camp Pendleton earlier this year after two women, a sailor and a civilian, filed complaints against him.
They accused him of indecent assault, cruelty of a subordinate and behavior unbecoming an officer, officials said.
Marine Gunnery Sgt. John Farrell said Friday that a date for the general court-martial has not yet been set. He said that two additional charges of conduct unbecoming an officer were lodged against Tolan after a Navy investigation. He is accused of 29 violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Farrell said.
Tolan is accused of groping the two women, reading aloud from sexually explicit books and writing remarks with a grease pencil on the sailor’s arm.
The women also alleged that he touched their buttocks and pulled their blouses out to look at their breasts.
Tolan, an aviation physiologist, was in charge of emergency training for pilots at El Toro. He took over the unit in May, 1989, and was relieved of his command on Feb. 24.
If found guilty, Tolan could be dismissed from the Navy, fined or jailed, a Marine official said.
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